Lauren Groff is one of the biggest names in literature right now.
The American novelist has written five novelsโthree of these making the New York Times bestsellers listโand a short story collection. Her 2015 novel Fates and Furies, which examines a marriage from the dual perspectives of a husband and wife, was even selected by Barack Obama as his favourite book of the year.
Next month, Lauren is making the journey to Australia for the Melbourne and Sydney writerโs festivals, where she will join conversations with writers including Charlotte Wood and Francesca de Tores.
![Lauren Groff's books.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.marieclaire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/04/lauren-groff-2-1024x576.jpg)
The setting couldnโt be more fitting for Lauren as this American writer just happens to harbour an particular affection for Australian literature.
โI love Australian fiction,โ Lauren tells marie claire Australia. โThereโs something about Australian fiction that feels really hyper-perceptive about the way we live now.โ
โWeโre so used to centring with Europe and the U.S. that the vast majority of the books that get marketed, and get sold and are taught, happen to be from those two continents.
โSo, having fiction from Australia and New Zealand is really meaningful because in some ways it feels itโs like the inverse of what weโre used to because everythingโs, you know, counter clockwise and a little bit further away.โ
Lauren continues, โI think thereโs something really valuable about at least being positioned as outside of the centre, especially for a writer, right? You canโt really observe things from the centre as well as you can from a couple of steps away.โ
One of Laurenโs favourite Australian authors is the great Helen Garner, with Groff even writing an introduction to a new edition of Garnerโs Monkey Grip that was released to U.S audiences.
โI think sheโs wise and sheโs sharp and she says the things that we all think but weโre afraid to say,โ Lauren says of Garner.
โIโve loved her since I read The Spare Room when it first came out, and thought โwho is this person!?โ Sheโs, sheโs really magnificent. And I love that book and Iโve recommended it to many, many people.โ
But Garner isnโt Laurenโs only foray into Australian fiction, sheโs also a big fan of Shirley Hazzard, Fiona McFarlane, and Charlotte Wood.
In fact, Laurenโs most important literary influences hail from various continents and cover more than one form.
โI have to say the work that actually makes the strongest impression on me is actually poetry,โ Lauren says.
โEmily Dickinson was the reason why I became a writer. And then the reason I became a short story writers is that I went to graduate school with Lorrie Moore. I also met Grace Paley very early on and she was so incredibly sharp, and smart and funny that I kind of co-opted her voice to be my editorial voice and she sort of sits here and reads along with me, like my work.โ
Lauren adds, โthe beautiful thing about being a writer is this is the constantly shifting list of influences, but itโs very real, and itโs very deep. โ
![Lauren Groff.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.marieclaire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/04/lauren-groff-writer-576x1024.jpg)
When it comes to her own writing, Lauren relies on two thingsโthe early morning and a particularly special contract with her husband.
โIโve always loved to write really, really early in the morning because I just like the world when no other people are there,โ Lauren laughs. โAnd at 4.30 or 5.00 a.m., I go up to my room with a cup of coffee, and I have this beautiful contract with my husband.โ
โWhen the kids were born, we sat down and we wrote up a thing. Part of the thing is, with the kids, I donโt have to get up and feed them breakfast. I donโt have to take them to school. I donโt have to make them lunches. I never get up. I never see any people in the morning. And that has been really, really wonderful and helpful.โ
โIt just allows me the space to sort of stare off into the distance and just imagineโwhich writing takes a huge amount of, and anyone whoโs watching you would think that youโre just wasting time but itโs never wasting it.โ
Currently, that time is spent working on not one but three works.
โI like to work on many at once because I like to go where the energy and heat are,โ Lauren explains. โOften when thereโs no heat in a work, itโs because youโve failed it somehow and so you have to figure out how to bring it back into you.โ
โNone of them could work out. Itโs totally fine if they donโt,โ Lauren acknowledges, โIโm just waking up and doing the work and seeing where it takes me.โ
Lauren Groff will be joining conversations at Melbourne Writers Festival and Sydney Writerโs Festival in 2024.